Toronto Festival of Beer 2013 – What’s Vegan?

The Toronto Festival of Beer is coming up this weekend, and like last year, I’ve put together a list of vegan friendly options.

I had a great time at the 2012 Toronto Festival of Beer, and enjoyed talking to all the different creators and beer enthusiasts. I like learning more about the science and the craft behind creating new and interesting flavours, and I think many of the people at these festivals get that. Nerding out over food & beverage science is one of the things I really enjoy.

There will be over 60 brewers featuring more than 200 brands from all over the globe participating in this event. They will also be featuring a “World of Beer Pavilion” – featuring West Coast Brewers from BC, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Some Q&A:

So, why wouldn’t beer be vegan friendly?

Sometimes during the manufacturing process alcoholic drinks can contain things like milk, eggs, honey, or get processed or filtered with animal derived products like isinglass, egg albumin, or gelatin.

Some people don’t care, some people do care, some people don’t even consider it. Do what you’d like to with this information.

Why am I making a list of vegan friendly brewers and products at the Toronto Festival of Beer?

1. Because I’m going to the festival, I am vegan, and I want to drink without thinking about potentially unethical ingredients and processes.
2. Because I like supporting brewers, producers, and distillers of products that also happen to be vegan friendly.
3. I’m curious about methods of production, and like connecting with producers to find out more about how they create their product.

So who’s going to be there, and what are they showing off?

You can see the full Exhibitors list here on the Toronto Festival of Beer exhibitors page. This year, you can also download the Toronto Festival of Beer app for Android or iPhone and see the map here

My list will contain the companies I’ve heard back from, or companies I’ve researched one way or another. The source of information will be listed, next to the company, where in most cases you can see more information and determine whether the answer works for you.

This list might not include everyone that will be at the event, but I’ve made best efforts to collect all the information and add it to this list:

• AC/DC Beer – Vegan – Barnivore
• Asahi Beer – Vegan – Barnivore
• Banks – Not vegan – barnivore
• Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co.– (Vegan – Email/Barnivore)
• Beer Barons – King Pilsner, King Vienna Lager, Thornbury Cider, Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier
• Black Oak Brewing – Black Oak Nut Brown Ale, Black Oak Pale Ale, Black Oak Summer Saison, specialty cask (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Brick Brewing Company – Which also includes Waterloo Brewery Co.(Barnivore – All beers not labelled as a honey beer are vegan)
• Brooklyn Brewery – Most/All beers are vegan friendly. (Barnivore) It appears that they use Biofine Clear (not isinglass) to filter casked beers too.  (barnivore/twitter.)
• Brunehaut Brewery – Vegan – Barnivore – also, additional notes that sound really cool –  They grow their own barley and wheat, and export their beer in recyclable kegs.
• Cameron’s Brewing Company – Vegan – Barnivore
• Central City – part of the World Beer Pavilion – mostly vegan except Casked. See more info below.
• Cool Beer Brewing – Cool Lager, Duggan’s #9 IPA, Millenium Buzz Beer, Stonewall Light
• Coors Light (Vegan, except for honey or stouts – Barnivore)
• Creemore Springs Brewery –  (Vegan – Email/Barnivore. I received one of the most thoughtful replies of any company during this process, and I appreciated it quite a bit.)
• Estrella Damm Lager (Vegan – Email/ Barnivore)
• F&M Brewery/Stone Hammer Beers – Stone Hammer Dark Ale, Stone Hammer Light, Stone Hammer Pilsner (Vegan – Email response from Matthew George, Sales & Marketing at F&M Brewery.)  Casked Beers are usually NOT Vegan (Barnivore)
• Harp Lager – Not Vegan – Barnivore
• Hogtown Brewers – Hogtown Ale (sent an email – reply by Ken Dubien, the “Doctor of Operations and Resident Beer Geek,” confirms that Hogtown Ale is Vegan Friendly)
• Innis & Gunn –  (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Jack Daniel’s – El Jimador Margarita, El Jimador Paloma, Jack Daniel’s & Cola, Jack Daniel’s & Lemonade (Vegan –Barnivore)
• Labatt – (vegan – Barnivore) Alexander Keith (vegan – Barnivore) Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime (Vegan – Barnivore) Rolling Rock Extra Pale (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Lake of Bays Brewing Company –  (Mostly Vegan – Confirmed Via Email from Company President, Darren Smith – see email on Barnivore)
• Left Field Brewery – Vegan Friendly – via Email with Mandie Murphy – also mentioned they use Grand River Brewery – which also produces vegan-friendly beer – Barnivore.
• McAuslan Brewing – The makers of St. Ambroise (Vegan – Barnivore)
• McClelland Premium Imports: They do brands like: Affligem Blond Abbey Ale (Vegan – Barnivore), Delirium Tremens (Vegan –Barnivore), Erdinger Weissbier (Vegan –Barnivore), Erdinger Dunkel Weissbier (Vegan –Barnivore), Mongozo Premium Pilsener (Vegan –Barnivore)
• Mill Street Brewery –  (Vegan – emailed / Barnivore)
• Miller Chill – (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Minhas Creek Craft Brewing Co. –  (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Molson Coors Canada – Molson M, Heineken, Corona, Miller Genuine Draft (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Moosehead & Friends – All Moosehead is Vegan –Barnivore),
• Rickard’s –  (is vegan friendly with the exception of anything with “honey” in the name – Barnivore.)
• Spearhead Brewing Company – Hawaiian Style Pale Ale (Vegan – talked to them IRL/ Emailed/Barnivore)
• Steam Whistle – Steam Whistle Pilsner (vegan – Barnivore)
• The Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery –  (Vegan, except for any of the ones with Honey in the name –Barnivore)
• Thornbury Cider – Vegan – Barnivore
• Tyskie (Vegan – Barnivore)
• Vincor Canada – Growers 1927, (not Vegan –Barnivore), Sawmill Creek (not Vegan – Barnivore)
• Waterloo Brewing Co – (Vegan Friendly – See Brick Brewing Co above)
• Wellington Brewery – (Usually Vegan Friendly with the exception of their “Real Ale or Cask Conditioned product” i.e., kegs, bottles, and cans are okay – email/ Barnivore)

This year’s World of Beer Pavilion features  West Coast Brewers:

• Central City Brewing Company – Red Racer Beer –  Casked beer is NOT vegan friendly – everything else is cool. (barnivore)
• Granville Island Brewing (GIB) – Limited Release Casked beers are not vegan. Everything else other than honey beers are fine. (barnivore)

• Tree Brewing Company – Vegan (barnivore)
• Anchor Steam Beer – Vegan (email/barnivore)
• Dead Frog Brewery – Vegan (barnivore)
• Elysian Brewing Co. – Mostly Vegan? Depending on where the beer is brewed. (Barnivore)
• Green Flash Brewing Co. (mostly vegan read more on Barnivore)
• Howe Sound inn & Brewing Company (mostly NOT vegan – Barnivore)
• Phillips Brewing Company (vegan friendly – they were also thoughtful enough to mention that the chocolate porter uses cocoa that “may contain milk ingredients” – Barnivore)
• Rogue –  (if it’s from a cask it’s not vegan – otherwise it is vegan friendly – Barnivore)
• Sierra Nevada – (vegan friendly  – Barnivore)
• Silver City Brewery – company has been emailed.

Barrel Brews

• Beaus All Natural Brewing Company – Greener Futures Project 
• Flying Monkeys – The Matador Imperial IPA
• Sawdust City Brewing Co – One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Bier
• Great Lakes Brewery
• Nickel Brook – Old Kentucky Bastard – Vegan –  as per Twitter

Food

There are not many vegan options for food at this event. Last year we ate a bunch of potato chips some gravy-less fries from Smoke’s.

These were suggested as potential food venue options, but are not 100%:

• Blue Goose Pure Foods
• Craft Eatery
• Ontario Corn Roasters – just skip the butter.
• Smoke’s Poutinerie

Key Information

Event: Toronto Beer Festival
Website: http://www.beerfestival.ca/
When: July 27th – July 29th
Where: (location details) Bandshell Park in Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON
How Much: 39.50 (you can still buy tickets online for Sunday. The rest are SOLD OUT.)

Hashtag: #BeerMe